Temporary Closure: Inchicore Library at Richmond Barracks
7 May 2025
Inchicore Library at Richmond Barracks will be temporarily closed starting Thursday 22 May to facilitate necessary works for an improved service; we appreciate your patience during this time and look forward to sharing more details soon. The library is expected to reopen on Tuesday 3 June.
(Podcast) "The women were worse than the men: crime in Dublin in 1916", the 19th Annual Sir John T. Gilbert Lecture, was given by Pádraig Yeates at the Dublin City Library and Archive on Thursday, 21 January 2016.
The 19th Annual Sir John T. Gilbert Lecture - Transcript
The following is a transcript of the nineteenth Sir John T. Gilbert Commemorative Lecture "The Women were worse than the Men" given by Pádraig Yeates at Dublin City Library & Archive on 21 January 2016.
You can now borrow eBooks and eAudiobooks from Dublin City Public Libraries. Reserve or borrow up to 5 eAudiobooks and 5 eBooks at a time. Visit library.bolindadigital.com/dublin and sign in using your library membership card number and PIN.
John MacDonagh, was a junior officer with the Volunteers during the 1916 Rising. He fought alongside his brother, Thomas MacDonagh, at the Jacob’s Biscuit Factory. The John MacDonagh collection contains a small amount of material related to MacDonagh’s republican credentials, most notably an eight page, hand-written letter dated 30 August 1916, to the London Aid Committee, describing conditions for Irish prisoners-of war in the Frongoch internment camp and signed simply “Henry”. While his role in the Rising might have been overshadowed by that of his brother, John MacDonagh’s role in shaping the artistic and cultural life of post-independence Ireland makes his story as worthy to tell as any other, and his name as important to remember.
The 18th annual Sir John T. Gilbert Commemorative Lecture, 'Dublin as a global city: through time and space', is now available for purchase in book form. The lecture was given by Kevin Whelan (in photo), Director, Keough-Naughton Institute, Notre Dame Centre in Dublin at the Dublin City Library & Archive on Thursday 22 January 2015.The book was launched on Thursday, 21st January, on the occasion of the 19th such lecture at the Dublin City Library & Archive in Pearse Street. Price is €8 and details are available on how to purchase.
David Bowie was The Future. His first solo album 'Space Oddity' was released at the peak of The Space Race between the US and the USSR in 1969. It portrays the plight of an astronaut alienated from his planet and family. This could have been influenced by the Kubrick film '2001: A Space Odyssey'.
On Wednesday, 27th May 2015, Dublin City Council's Public Library Service took possession of a copy of a rare eye-witness account of the outbreak of the 1916 Easter Rising. The account was in the form of a letter written by Elsie McDermid (seen on the right), a popular opera singer of the era, to her mother in England on the occasion of Elsie's visit to Dublin. She was in Dublin to perform in Gilbert and Sullivan shows at Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. However, the performances were cancelled as a result of the dramatic outbreak of the Easter Rising on Monday 24th April 1916.
On this day (6th January) in 1931 the death took place of Dublin-born stained glass artist and illustrator Harry Clarke, aged 41. While considered one of Ireland’s greatest stained glass artists, he also illustrated a number of books for both children and adults in his characteristic, highly stylized manner. Indeed a fine collection of books illustrated by him is held in the Dublin City Libraries' Special Collections. ! Above (left): Death Notice, Irish Independent, Friday, 9th January, 1931. (right): Extract, Irish Independent, 8th January 1931 (click to view larger version)In 1886 his father, Joshua Clarke, founded the J. Clarke and Sons Glass Studios and a church furnishing business. The Glass Studios were based at 33 North Frederick Street. After his death in 1921, the businesses were taken over by Harry and his brother Walter. After Walter's death, the studio became the Harry Clarke Glass Studios, and continued to operate even after Harry's death, producing an estimated 1000 windows and finally closing in 1973. Right: J. Clarke and Sons, Glass Studios, Advertisement. Source: The Belvederian, 1922, Periodical Collection, Dublin City Library and Archive (click to view larger image)Harry Clarke was born on 17th March, 1889, and lived at 48 North Circular Road with his wife (Margaret Crilley) and three children. He went to school in Belvedere College, and studied stained-glass at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art. He is buried in Chur (or Coire) in Switzerland where he died.Left: Perrault, Charles. The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault. Illustrated by Harry Clarke. London, G. Harrap and Company, 1922 (click to view larger image)The collection of Perrault’s Fairy Tales is of particular interest because of its fine illustrations by Harry Clarke. In the Introduction to this volume, Thomas Bodkin commends the illustrations for the way they complement the spirit of the text and their "grace, delicacy, urbanity, tenderness and humour."A book, 'Harry Clarke’s War: Illustrations for Ireland's Memorial Records, 1914-1918' by Marguerite Helmers (Rosebush Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh) was published by the Irish Academic Press in September 2015.Did you know...?An original stained glass artwork by Harry Clarke, which outraged the Irish Government in 1930, went on public display on the 11th March 2015 at Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane. The work, seen on the left (click to view larger image), depicts a scene from Liam O’Flaherty's controversial novel 'Mr Gilhooley' and was created by Harry Clarke as a section of his Panel No. 6 for the Geneva Window. It was commissioned by the Irish Government for the League of Nations building in Geneva , the UN's forerunner, in the late 1920's. Clarke chose scenes of novels by contemporary Irish writers as his themes for the window.The Geneva Window was never displayed at its intended home in the Labour Court in Geneva as it was deemed to be unsuitable by the Government of the day. Instead it was installed in Government Buildings, Merrion Square. Read more about the Geneva Window...The original 'Mr Gilhooley' section is on permanent display at the Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane. View the Harry Clarke online collection, also courtesy of the Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane.Did you also know...?Harry and his brother Walter were both born on St Patrick's Day (17th March) - Walter in 1887 and Harry in 1889. Walter died on the 20th July, 1930, of pneumonia, and is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.